The three divine lights descended almost simultaneously, covering the entire Xuanhuang Sacred City. From the outside, one could not distinguish how many beams there were — all that could be seen was an infinite radiance blotting out the sky and the sun, enveloping Xuanhuang City.
"Xuanhuang Sacred City is about to ascend. This is the symbol of the Immortal Court. Once it ascends, it will have fully completed every step of transforming into an Immortal City."
"This is heaven and earth's blessing, the mandate of fate. The dynasty is rising, receiving recognition from heaven and earth, gathering their fortune. But… something feels off. Why does this divine light inspire a reverence and yearning deep in the soul? As if it comes from an inconceivably great existence. It even carries other unfamiliar, alien traces, though they can't be probed. Strange. Truly strange."
"It feels like the Eternal Heaven Barge from the last epoch. This is the aura of the Eternal Azure Lotus."
In the shadows, Fuxi and other mighty human experts watched with awe and joy, but also with a tinge of unease. Within the divine light they sensed a peculiar aura — something familiar yet elusive, something that slipped away when they tried to grasp it. It felt like the breath of a supreme being, one meant to be gazed upon from below. Soon, they realized there was more to it.
Xuanhuang City was not just an ordinary Immortal City of a dynasty.
But such thoughts were cast aside. What mattered most now was for Xuanhuang City to complete its metamorphosis and safely ascend as the Immortal Court. Anything else was trivial.
The current situation was far too dangerous — until the ascension was complete, accidents could happen at any moment.
"The Immortal City is ascending — wonderful! Our Xuanhuang City will undergo another transformation."
"Once it ascends, suppress these Dao Venerables, crush them all! To dare rampage in Great Yi — they should all be subdued, imprisoned in the Heaven Prison, never to escape for billions of years!"
The citizens of the city, upon witnessing the sight, felt nothing but excitement and expectation.
They had long suffered under the shadow of the Nine Heavens Dao Venerables.
Now they longed for Great Yi's metamorphosis to sweep them all away.
One could see boundless fortune and eternal power endlessly pouring into Xuanhuang City. The city expanded visibly at a terrifying pace, unfolding fully in the void. With the infusion of the three divine lights of creation, a fundamental transformation took place.
"Damn it! We absolutely cannot allow this Immortal City to complete its metamorphosis!"
The Dao Venerables of the Nine Heavens were furious and alarmed beyond words.
Great Yi's transformation was happening too fast — far too fast for them to stop.
Baptized by the light of creation, endless fortune, and immortal essence, the Eternal Well was the first to undergo metamorphosis, swallowing and spewing endless primal fortune. Inside, innate divine restrictions continuously unfolded. Alongside it, the Eternal Divine Furnace transformed as well. These two were the very core of Xuanhuang Immortal City.
The true energy centers.
Not only did these cores evolve, but the very body of the city, forged from the countless Wishing Power Beads, visibly transformed — stronger, more solid, more unshakable. Its defenses increased by dozens, hundreds, even thousands of times. With fortune as fuel, countless mysterious Dao marks etched themselves into the city. The array patterns of the Twelve Zodiac Grand Formation spread across every inch of the city. Each passing moment, innumerable Wishing Power Beads burned away as nourishment, fusing into the city.
If others had seen this, they would have been scared to death.
The Wishing Power Beads, mountains upon mountains of them, treasures that outside would spark wars of blood, here were consumed like worthless trinkets, merging with the divine light of creation, becoming the body of the city, its buildings, its nourishment.
Even the power of the Twelve Zodiac Grand Formation underwent metamorphosis, becoming more terrifying than ever. The supreme ancestral vein within grew rapidly, inch by inch expanding. Innate spirit veins within the zodiac statues all grew wildly. The primal source of heaven and earth itself flowed into Xuanhuang City like it was endless.
At the same time, the city's five Mystic Traits—Wujian, Nightmare, Adaptation, Disciple, and Out of Control—grew exponentially, tens of times stronger. This made the Immortal City even more enigmatic. Vaguely, a sixth mysterious attribute was about to be born.
Once ascension was complete, it was certain to appear.
"Great Yi should not exist."
At that moment, the Evil Dao Venerable, still locked in battle with Zhen Yuanzi and others, coldly roared. His evil spirit parasol suddenly turned into a whip, lashing the Kunpeng Ancestor out of the void and leaving a deep, horrifying mark across his body.
Immediately after, space around them warped violently.
A colossal figure materialized from nothing.
It was over ten thousand zhang tall, monstrous and horrifying.
Its shape was vaguely humanoid, but its head was like that of an octopus, with writhing tentacles sprouting where its face should be. Its body was covered in slimy, scale-like tissue, with massive talons and a pair of elongated wings behind its back. Its bloated, grotesque form dripped with mucous, the massive green bulk pressing against the heavens and earth. A wave of alien dread washed over all.
"Ahhh!"
"What is that?! My head… it hurts!"
"Don't look! Do not look at it! Just seeing it brings corruption to the soul!"
In an instant, countless citizens of Great Yi screamed in agony, writhing as though their souls were being polluted. Their very bodies threatened to mutate. If not for the blazing sun marks within them — releasing true solar fire to resist — many would have already undergone horrific aberrations. Fortunately, everyone in Great Yi bore both the Sun Mark and Moon Mark.
The power of the sun burned away corruption, while the power of the moon purified their souls.
Together, they kept the citizens from falling into monstrosity.
"A heretic god… this is an Evil God!"
"No — this is a Heavenly Demon God Weapon, a Blood Demon type. The most terrifying of the Eternal Night world's creations, on par with the Eternal Heaven Ark. The Evil Dao Venerable is in truth a lurking Great Demon of Eternal Night!"
"He is a demon! Kill him!"
The mighty experts all turned pale. The aura was unmistakable — this was a Heavenly Demon God Weapon.
For the Evil Dao Venerable to unleash such a weapon now exposed his true identity beyond all doubt — a Great Demon hidden in the Nine Heavens.
"So what if I'm a demon? I am! Cthulhu — kill!!"
The Evil Dao Venerable laughed maniacally, his body merging into the war weapon. This was a Blood Demon type Heavenly Demon God Weapon — its true strength lay in fusing with a master's flesh and divine talents. The result was terrifying beyond measure.
Heavenly Demon War Weapon — Cthulhu!!
The Unnameable Evil God.
Those who gazed upon it would be instantly corrupted if their will was not unshakable, mutating into twisted servants of the Evil God. Its powers were unspeakable horrors, spreading irreversible corruption wherever it appeared.
This was an Immortal-grade Heavenly Demon God Weapon.
An Immortal-class war weapon could easily crush any Hunyuan realm. To face ten at once was its norm — it was forged as a weapon of pure war. Cthulhu was among the most terrifying of them all. In the last epoch, it had devoured countless worlds, dragging innumerable mighty ones into Eternal Night.
The fusion of Evil Dao Venerable and Cthulhu was not one plus one equaling two — it was something far greater.
"Even if my identity is exposed today, so what? Great Yi must perish! Yi Tianxing must die!"
The monstrous roar came from within Cthulhu, dripping with madness.
Tentacles like vast whips lashed out from its maw, tens of thousands of zhang long, covered in gnashing mouths and barbed growths. One slammed violently into Poseidon, the Sea Emperor.
BOOM!!
With a terrible detonation, Poseidon's body burst apart like a watermelon, exploding into a cloud of blood mist. Yet an instant later, his figure reformed in the distance — he had avoided true death with some hidden method.
Still, the strike carried the power to kill him outright.
Ignoring Poseidon's survival, the Evil Dao Venerable strode forward, wings unfurling. Behind him, countless evil eyes opened, each unleashing beams of blinding, twisted light. Like a storm of falling stars, they rained upon Xuanhuang City.
BOOM!!
Each blast was equivalent to a Saint's full-strength strike, shaking heaven and earth. But Xuanhuang City was still cloaked in the divine light of creation — each attack struck the barrier, sending out ripples, consuming strands of fortune light in the process.
To attack the divine light of creation was to deplete it.
This was a direct assault on the city's ascension. If the fortune was exhausted, the ascension would falter, or worse, collapse entirely. Both outcomes were exactly what the Evil Dao Venerable desired.
"Not good! He's trying to disrupt the ascension of Xuanhuang City!"
Yi Tianxing's expression turned grim and icy. Every strand of creation light consumed was an immeasurable loss.
(End of Chapter)